Scotland > 1882-1915 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland > 1886 - Slater's (late Pigot and Co's) Royal national commercial directory and topography of Scotland

FORFARSHIRE
r AUCHTERHOUSE
SLATER'S
TAILORS.
Cochrane William, Auchterbouse
Fyffe Henry, Lundie
WRIGHTS.
Anderson William, Lundie
Hill Robert, Auchterbouse
Rae Peter, Auchterbouse
Salmond James, Newton, Tealing
Steele David (& millwright), Fowlis Easter
MISCELLANEOUS.
Duncan George, wood merchant, Thriepley,
Lundie [Tealing
M'Nicoll Walter, land steward, Homo Farm,
Public Buildings, Offices, &c.
PLACES OF WORSHIP
and their ministers.
Established Churches :—
Auchterbouse— Rev. William M. Inglis, m.a.
Fowbs Easter—Rev. Peter L. Burr
Lundie— Rev. Peter L. Burr
Tealing— Rev. William Elder
Free Church, Tea'ing— Rev. Neil Elder
PAROCHIAL BOARD AND RATE
OFFICERS
FOR THE PARISHES OF
Auckterlwuse—Johii Robertson, inspectoi &
collector
Fowlis Easter— David Crabb, inspector and
collector, Fowlis Uottage
Lundie— Duncan Jamieson, inspector and
collector, School House
Tealing — P. M. M'Kenzie, inspector
REGISTRARS
OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES FOR
THE PARISHES OF
Auckterhouse — John Robertson, School
House
Fowlis Easter — David Crabb
Lundie — Duncan Jamieson, School House
Tealing— P. M. M'Kenzie
CONVEYANCE BY RATLWAY,
ON THE DUNDEE AND NEWTYLE BRANCH OF
THE CALEDONIAN LINE.
Station, Auchterhouse— Thomas M'Kay,
station master [master
Station, Dronley— Joseph Cameron, station
CARRIERS.
To DUNDEE, David Buchanan, from Auch-
terhouse; James M'Farlane, from Lundie,
and William Mann and David Malcolm
from Tealing, Tuesday & Friday
BRECHIN,
WITH THE PARISH OF FARNELL,
BRECHIN is a royal burgh, the seat of a presbytery, the see of a bishop,
and the capital of its parish ; 70 miles n. from Edinburgh, situ-
ated on the north bank of the Southesk, and on a branch line of the
North-Eastern section of the Caledonian Railway, for which there is a
station here. Brechin more than once suffered by the incursions of in-
vaders and broils of civil wars ; it was burnt by the Danes in 1012, and
in 1645 was subjected to a similar calamity by tbe Marquis of Montrose ;
two years afterwards it was nearly depopulated hy that dreadful scourge,
the plague. Formerly tbe city was walled, but the gates have been long
removed, and in the present day it exhibits the appearance of a busy
manufacturing town with several excellent public buildings. It has
been greatly improved during the last few years, and is uow well sup-
plied with gas and water. Fiax spinning and the manufacture of linen,
and a paper mill, employ numerous hands. There are also two distil-
leries and a brewery. Branches of the Royal Bank of Scotland, British
Linen Company Bank, the Clydesdale Bank, Limited, the Union Bank
of Scotland, Limited, tbe National Bank of Scotland, Limited, and
Bank of Scotland arc. established here. There are several excellent
family and commercial hotels, the principal being tbe Commercial, the
Dalbousie, and tbe Crown. A newspaper, established in 1818, published
on Tuesday morning, entitled the Brechin Advertiser, is conducted with
much talent. The antiquity of Brechin as a royal burgh is of remote
date ; it is governed by a provost, two bailies, a dean of guild, treasurer,
hospital master, and seven councillors, who are also police commis-
sioners. The burgh joins with Forfar, Montrose, Arbroath, and Inver-
bervie in returning one member to Parliament ; tbe present representa-
tive is the Right Hon. W. E. Baxter, Asbcliffe, Dundee. A burgh or
baibe court is held every Wednesday, and oftener when necessary ; the
bailies are the judges. A justice of the peace court is held on the first
Wednesday in every month, and a sheriff court on tbe third Tuesday of
January, March, May, July, September and November ; tbe two last-
mentioned courts are for adjudicating small debt claims.
In ancient times tbe Abbey of Culdees existed here ; and hi 1150, when
Brechin was constituted an episcopal see by David I., it is supposed that
the site of this establishment was that selected for the foundation of the
cathedral. An interesting fragment remains of the hospital of Maison
Dieu, founded by William Brechin in 1264. The cathedral of St.Ninian,
which now forms the parish church, stands on the north verge of a pre-
cipitous ravine, which separates the burgh lands from those of Brechin
Castle; it was originally a stately Gothic structure, but its architectural
symmetry has been materially injured by the injudicious taste displayed
in modern repairs. Tbe length is 116 feet and the breadth 61 feet ; the
steeple is a square' erection, 70 feet iu height, surmounted by an hexagonal
spire of 50 feet. The cathedral of Brechin was- one of the few places of
worship in which the service of the liturgy was for some time performed
without interruption after its promulgation in 1637. The bishop was a
man of singularly strong and daring character, and ascended the pulpit
with a pair of pistols under his gown, determined to carry the behests
of royalty into execution at whatever risk. The places of worship are
the parish church (cathedral ), East parish church, two Free churches, and
three United Presbyterian, a Scotch Episcopal and Evangelical Union
chapels, and a meeting bouse iu Bank Street for Plymouth Brethren ; a
small body of Roman Catholics meet fortnightly in the Freemasons' Hall.
Contiguous to tbe cathedral stands the round tower of Brechin, similar
to those in Ireland. It is supposed to have been erected about the year
1010 ; it is built of freestone, 85 feet in height to the cornice, and 25 feet
more to tbe pinacle of a modern spire. It has several windows — four in
particular, at the top, facing tbe cardinal points. The entrance to the
tower is by a door five feet from the ground, on the outside; the whole
edifice has been repaired by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests,
and new wooden ladders erected. Numerous figures in an antique style of
carving and a rude representation of the crucifixion, are the surrounding
ornaments to the door. The diameter of the tower at the bottom is 16
feet. Formerly there were two small bells in it, which were removed to
the large steeple, where they now hang. Between the town and the
river, and only separated from the former by tbe ravino before men-
tioned, stands Brechin Castle, an ancient seat of the Maules of Panmure,
now represented by tbe Right Hon. tbe Earl of Dalbousie ; it is built on
a precipitous rock overhanging the stream. It sustained a siege of
twenty days in 1303 from the English army under Edward I., but Sir
Thomas Maule, its commander, being killed, it surrendered. The
south front, towards the river, consists of some remains of the original
structure, with some more recent erections, including a handsome
square tower ; the west front is formed with regularity, in the style of
the seventeenth century, with round towers at the angles.
Brec h i n has the advantage of numerous educational seminaries, and
these have stimulated even the humble classes to the acquisition of know-
ledge, which is ministered to them by means of several excellent public
libraries, the volumes of which are in active demand. One of the chief
architectural ornaments of the town is the Mechanics' Institution,
containing an excellent library, reading room and billiard club. The
front is in the Tudor style, with castellated parapet, ornamented with
pinnacles ; a fine tower rises in the centre to tbe height of eighty or
ninety feet, from the summit of which there is an enchanting prospect.
This elegant structure was erected at the sole cost of tbe late Lord
Panmure, who also presented to the institution numerous
valuable paintings, which grace the fine ball of the institution.
His lordship's munificence also granted £1,000 to be invested at interest,
which yields about £40 a year, and is appropriated to enriching the
bbrary with books and the support of courses of lectures ; and tbe
subscribers are entitled to the benefit of the whole, for a very small
payment annually. A very handsome building for the Young Men's
Christian Association has been erected in Bank street, at a cost of
£1,500, and was opened in 1878, the money being raised by public
subscriptions. Also in the same year was erected the new Poor-house,
on tbe hill in Infirmary street, at a cost of £3,000 ; the old poorhouse,
in City road, has been converted into a model lodging house, and is the
property of the town council. This town has given birth to more men
of genius and literary distinction than any town, in ijroportion to its
size, in Scotland, among whom may be enumerated Maitland, tbe
laborious historian of Edinburgh and Loudon ; Dr. Gillies, the historian
of Greece ; his brother, Lord Adam Gillies, Dr. Thomas Guthrie, and
Colviu Smith, the eminent artist to whom Sir Walter Scott sat on five
different occasions, and numerous others. Trinity Muir, one mile north
of the town, besides being the site of several great fairs, is resorted to by
cricket and golf players during the summer. The market is held on
Tuesday, and the fairs (held on Trinity Muir), the third Wednesday and
Thursday in August, and the Tuesday before the last Wednesday in
September. The great sheep, cattle, and horse fair (on Trinity Muir),
which commences on the second Wednesday in June, and continues for
three days, is one of the largest in Scotland. " Croft H markets, for
cattle, aro held in the town, and horse markets, also, towards the end of
February and beginning of March. Brechin parish embraces an area of
14,313 acres ; and in 1881 had a population of 10,499, the town contain-
ing 9,031.
Farnell is a parish four miles from Brechin, its post town ; it is
about three miles in length, and two miles in breadth, bounded on the
north by Brechin, on the south by Rossie Muir, on the east by Mary ton,
and on the west by Kinnell and Brechin, and G% miles south-west from
Montrose. Kinnaird Castle, the family seat of the Earl of Southesk, is
acknowledged to be one of the most superb seats of the Scottish nobility,
and is built in the style of a French chateau ; it contains a good collec-
tion of paintings, and has an imposing and princely appearance, with
its beautiful grounds and other ornamental appendages, being situated
in a deer park of about 1,300 acres in extent. Acreage, 5,703 ; population
in 1881, 613.
POST OFFICE, Brechin, David Tindal Webster, Post Master.— Letters arrive from the South at 7 and 9 40 a.m. and 6 30 p.m., and are
despatched thereto at 1 noon and 4 50 p.m.— Letters arrive from tbe North at 9 40 a.m. (from Aberdeen only), at 2 50 and 6 30 p.m., and. are des-
patched thereto at 8 a.m., 1 noon (to Montrose and Aberdeen only) and 10 p.m. Money Order and Telegraph Office and Savings Bank,
Post Office, Railway Station, Farnell, William Davidson, Post Master.— Letters arrive from all parts (from Brechin) at 8 20, and are,
despatched thereto at 10 45 a,m. — ^The nearest Money Order Office is at Brechin,
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